In a setback to BJP just before the upcoming elections in five states, the Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka scored an emphatic victory in three Lok Sabha seats and two assembly constituencies that went to the bypolls last weekend. The bypolls result came as a major setback for the BJP as it lost the Ballari Lok Sabha seat, considered a stronghold of the mining barons -- the Reddy brothers.

The bypolls were seen as a prestigious popularity test for the ruling Congress-JDS coalition ..